Smoking a stogey in a Los Angeles cigar shop, Angelo Tsarouchas was approached by a man and asked about the “mayor of Canada.”

“The mayor of Canada?”

“Yeah, you know the one that smokes crack?”

Tsarouchas paused, then set the questioner straight.

“That’s Rob Ford and he’s not the mayor of Canada, he’s the mayor of Toronto, a city in Canada.”

After another pause, he added: “There’s nothing unusual about him smoking crack. Everybody up there smokes something.”

These Americans, Tsarouchas thought. They don’t know anything about us.

Tsarouchas, who was born in Montreal to Greek immigrant parents, has been hanging out in Los Angeles the last seven years in pursuit of acting and stand-up comedy careers.

He returns to the home and native land Saturday for a show at Kingsville’s Mastronardi Estate Winery. He’ll be the opening attraction at a concert by Canadian flamenco specialist, and fellow Greek, Pavlo.

“I sometimes feel like I’m an ambassador for Canada,” said the 350-pound Tsarouchas, who may be familiar to TV audiences for his commercials for Delissio Pizza and Miracle Whip.

His Showtime special, Bigger is Better, had an audience of nearly 11 million, and he has appeared in several episodes of CBC’s Just For Laughs. He also had a starring role in the independent film, Fred and Vinnie, which earned him a best actor award in England.

You can see some of his commercials, plus TV and concert clips on his website, funnygreek.com.

“I’m always correcting people about Canada. We know a lot about America, but Americans know little about us, and don’t seem to care.”

They easily forget about all the exports we send them: “Oil, lumber, iron, Celine Dion.”

Much of what he hears on his travels becomes part of his act. And the act travels well — his CD, It’s All Greek To Me, was a top 10 download in Australia.

At 48, Tsarouchas is a late bloomer who is just now enjoying the fruits of years of hard work in obscurity. Some of those early years were spent here in Windsor at the former Yuk Yuks in the Red Oak Inn (now Holiday Inn).

He relates how friends encouraged him to attend acting school when, in his 30s in Ottawa, his first marriage collapsed and with it his businesses, a restaurant and a travel planning agency.

“I was broke and I didn’t know where to turn.”

Acting school was the right tonic. “I took a chance that a lot of people my age wouldn’t dare to take,” he said.

He also decided to tell jokes about his Greek roots at a time when ethnic humour was sweeping the globe. Canada’s Russell Peters, with whom Tsarouchas has toured, and Australian comic Joe Avati have both mined the ethnic vein in comedy.

“We live in an age where people want to know more about other people’s culture. Canada’s a great example of multiculturalism.”

Growing up in Montreal, Tsarouchas said he was surrounded by Jamaicans, Italians, Muslims, Chinese and many more.

“Hey, I shouldn’t be doing comedy,” he said. “I should run for prime minister.”

People ask him how it is speaks fluent Greek. “Easy. My mother couldn’t speak a word of English, so if I wanted to be fed, and that was quite often, I had to learn to speak to her in her language.”

He met fellow Greek-Canadian Pavlo several years ago, and toured with him as a warm-up act.

“It’s funny how such a small country like Greece — it’s only 11 million people — can have such a huge influence on the world,” he said.

There are Greek communities — Tsarouchas calls them “secret networks” — in almost every city in the world.

He recently did a show in Sydney, Australia, and the city’s Greek community came out in droves. They eagerly invited him back.

“I talk a lot about Greek culture, but a lot about Canada, as well. And that goes over well with all the ex-pats. Canadians everywhere miss Tim Hortons, Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s.”

Hardly a day goes by without Tsarouchas running into an ex-pat in L.A. He met his American wife there and they have a nine-month-old daughter.

“Funny how things happen,” he said. “I grew up in an immigrant family in Canada and now I’m here in Los Angeles, an immigrant myself, raising a family.”

Canadian tenor John McDermott. (Courtesy of Migration Hall)

If you go

In Concert on the Vineyard takes place Saturday and Sunday at Mastronardi Estate Winery, 1193 Concession Rd. 3 East, Kingsville. To get there, take Highway 3 East to Graham Side Road, turn right (south), then left at County Rd. 3, and right at Concession Rd. 3.

Canadian tenor John McDermott sings a special blend of traditional Irish and Scottish songs along with contemporary favourites. Tickets start at $30.

Opening act for all shows is Leamington’s Billy Raffoul. For tickets, call the St. Clair Centre for the Arts box office, 519-252-6579, or go online to chryslertheatre.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the door prior to showtime.

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